Youth Pictures of Florence Henderson - Youth...

If there’s one thing I don’t do well it’s stay in touch. I typically blame it on social anxiety, but I’m fairly sure it’s just general indifference. Without context it’s hard for me to listen or stay involved with estranged “friends.” It’s stupid and extremely antisocial of me. Plus, it’s hypocritical because one of my favorite shows is Seinfeld. Hearing about so-and-so doing who-knows-what over the phone or God Forbid! over GbookMail is, in my mind, the equivalent of having your teeth pulled, except that you can – and must – talk to the dental hygienist throughout the whole ordeal. It’s for this reason, and let’s be honest, a mountain’s worth of other untreated personality failures, that I sometimes go years without hearing from, caring about or even remembering once “good” friends.

However, compared to a band like Youth Pictures of Florence Henderson, whose last output is from 2005, I must seem like a yenta. The band dropped an enormously enjoyable post-rock album, and then did nothing. We didn’t hear from them. They didn’t write songs or to us. And now we’re just supposed to welcome their self-titled release, with the added dimension of wispy yet shouty vocals, like they’ve been here the whole time? Not on my hypocritical watch, boys. Fine, I'm fooling nobody. This rules.

The album begins with “Let’s Rent Bikes From 1942,” and it isn’t long before former fans will hear the delicately applied vocals behind the band’s Sunday Stroll style. Very rarely do Youth Pictures climaxes include pounding drums or scary guitar squalls. The band use tempo and volume, but it’s never done in a way that would rouse a sleeping person. And with songs easily surpassing the 8-minute mark, listeners have plenty of time to envision the breathtaking landscapes that must have influenced such freewheeling song structures. For instance the violin on “To Sit Down or to Follow, So I Follow” ebbs back and forth like mountaintops on a foggy day. I guess I’m starting to understand how this could take five years.

But we all have a shtick, and we should know when it's becoming stale. I knew a guy who was tired of me ending every sentence with something self-deprecating, so he began doing it for me. But when I met him again years later, what had been tired was now fresh. Youth Pictures aren’t bearing any instrumental torch; orchestral arrangements, the adding of vocals, pause-go momentum swings, etc, many other bands employ these features. And I don’t know how many times I’ve said this – six? – it’s the ability to mold overdone things into new shapes that matters most. By employing distortions and ever-so-slight electronic flourishes, Youth Pictures have created something that feels original. Whether it is or not doesn’t really matter to anyone but you.

With each passing year we create more life trapdoors that hoard/hide once-important information. A lot can be acquired or lost. You can be like me and use that time to turn over friends like cashiers at McDonalds. Or you could take Youth Pictures of Florence Henderson’s path and drastically improve yourself. Remember, their path doesn’t mean they have to hide in a Gap changing room to avoid “friends.” This one should be a no-brainer.

Recommended If You Like: The Appleseed Cast, Slint, "a noisy Death Cab for Cutie"

hi. im the drummer from youth pics and i just found this review. i would just like to say that i really enjoyed reading it. the reviewer has catched a lot of what was our intentions with this album and he writes really well. thumbs up. and yes, i know. our band name is weird:)
thanks for all the other nice words too. it means a lot.

bandname history:
to clear things up. just a month or so after we started the band we were asked to do a show, but we had no name. the guy who was making the poster called us up while were at a party drinking beer and watching tv. the program that as on was a documentary about the actress florence henderson, and the line "nude pictures of florence henderson" was mentioned as he was on the phone. we had to give the guy a bandname ASAP for the poster and ended up with changing nude to youth and we had a name. things went uphill pretty fast, so we never got time to change it and after our first record (which actually was a demo).

at the time we were a punkband btw.

today we kind of like the name. and we figured out that she looked kinda cute when she was younger:)

bandname history:
to clear things up. just a month or so after we started the band we were asked to do a show, but we had no name. the guy who was making the poster called us up while were at a party drinking beer and watching tv. the program that as on was a documentary about the actress florence henderson, and the line "nude pictures of florence henderson" was mentioned as he was on the phone. we had to give the guy a bandname ASAP for the poster and ended up with changing nude to youth and we had a name. things went uphill pretty fast, so we never got time to change it and after our first record (which actually was a demo).

at the time we were a punkband btw.

today we kind of like the name. and we figured out that she looked kinda cute when she was younger:)